Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1887-05-20
THE COUNTY TEACHERS INSTITUTE.

\otwithstan1inr tla fnct tb,+ tb;s i
busy time of the Year wifi almost ovarw
one the tpochnrs. institute now. in ,ro
gress at the town hail Is IargaIv ,ttadIo"J
both bv teachers and the General nuhlir
If i rnnductnd hv Stnto uror;n.nnInN
of Education Dart. The varions nd.
dresses and evercisos tbus for havo boon
suggestive and volu,blo
"r'NrpAi NoiNlN"'
Inc iheetlng was called to order at 10
o clock Wednesday morning by Supt.
Dart of Springfield. The devotional
exercises were conducted by Rev. a.
Der. Palmer OF Middlebury.
Hon. John W. Stewart of Middlebury
made the opening address. lie should
not. he SAID. attempt to discuss methods
OF teaching since his hearers knew more
OF them than he did. But. like every other
citizen, he was Interested in education.
lie had been struck with the lack of in
terest i'll the subject a. shown by the al
most pathetic appeals of the State super
~lntehdent to the people of the state. Es-
peclally needful was education in a gov
eminent such az we live under. y govern
ment OF ignorance. for ignorance and by
ignorance would be monstrous anomaly.
The object of this meeting was. largely,
to create enthusiasm in the matter. In
the early history of this section religion
ana education went hand i'll hand. and
New England ideas. political. civil and
moral. have formed those of the rest of
the nation. The pioneers were III earnest.
Asa result of their eXertions the commom-
school system is everywhere established,
even in the south. 1t was the New Eng
land Idea that made war on slavery. that
trlunpled at .\ppolnattoN and that to-
day rules the country. And this ought
to he to u a source of encouragement.
New England. Vermont. must be true to
her traditions. The speaker had. the
other day. come across an old document
which turned out to be IA subscription
paper for the establishment of an acad-
envy here. The name of every prominent
man in this section was down upon it:
and the college was put in operation and
for many wears thus sustained. Mr..
Stewart referred briefly to defects he had
noticed III current methods. lie laid
special stress upon errors in spelling that
were to be met with every day in the
letters of men who ought to know better.
The common schools should teach thor
oughly spelling. writing and reading. and
in his opinion drawing lessons would I'M
prove penman>hip. The way to better
our schools l. To enlarge the number of
those who maintain them. Teachers
should be better paid. and their work
should be supervised with greater care.
Inc state must come to this. but the
only way TO bring it about is by constant
agitation. We are. too, interested in the
broader question of education in the
country at large. over six millions III
the United States cannot read or write.
This state of things means dangers of
many kinds. 1t is generally agreed by in
telligent students of the constitution that
it l. within the province of the federal
government to use its funds for the COM
mon benefit. In the South thousands of
children are not enrolled because the
people are not able to provide schools.
But the lower house of Congress was UNI
able to vote upon the educational bill that
passed the Senate AT the last session.
though four-titths of the members were
in favor of it. In closing Mr.. Stewart
expressed Il hope that the meeting might
be both pleasant ana profitable.
An address by superintendent Dart
followed. What was needed, he said,
was TO bring the matter of education
more prominently before the people.
Vermont. though small in territory. has
always had Il large influence through the
institutions which our ancestors founded.
But even in Vermont there i illiteracy:
10000 of our population cannot write
their names. Education must be uni
versal. 1t must come to the child in the
back town rs well as to the one in the
large town. Till that is accomplished.
agitation must be kept up. The object
of education, is, primarily, citizenship.
The disciplinary work of the public
school. in requiring constant attendance
and continued work. is too often lost
sight of. An examination of the school
registers will convince anyone of this
fact. So scholars grow up with the
untion thor tbav naab do only what thav